Air seeder and/or fertilizer apparatus are commonly used in agricultural operations to apply particulate materials including one or more of the following, namely seed, fertilizer and/or inoculants, into soil during the planting operation.
Prior art seeder/fertilizer devices often include a “tool bar” having ground-engaging openers thereon, behind which is towed a wheeled cart that includes one or more containment tanks or bins and associated metering means to respectively contain and meter therefrom particulate materials. One such device is the Seed Hawk™1 device manufactured by Seed Hawk Inc. under license from the assignee of the within application. 1 Trademark of one Pass Implements, for air seeder/fertilizer devices, used under license from One-Pass Implements Inc.
The metered particulate material from the metering means is delivered to the soil via pneumatic tubing which connect the metering means, via an intermediary primary distribution hub, to ground-engaging openers which engage soil and permit delivery of particulate material such as seed or fertilizer to furrows which are created in such soil by the ground-engaging openers.
An further example of such a system is shown in FIG. 1 of Canadian patent CA 2,111,611, where an air seeder cart 1 having a fertilizer bin 2a and a seed bin 2b, is towed behind a tool bar (shown in FIG. 1, but not numbered) having a plurality of knives 15 thereon for engaging the soil, wherein particulate material (seed or fertilizer) is conveyed from bins 2a, 2b via primary conveyance tube 3 to a primary distribution manifold 8 mounted on the tool bar, and from distribution manifold 8 is distributed to a plurality of manifold tubes 9, and then into secondary distribution tubes for delivery to each knife opener 15.
Typically a metering means for metering seed or fertilizer as the air seeder apparatus travels along the ground provided, and is located on an underside of each containment bin which forms part of a wheeled cart which is towed behind a tool bar having ground engaging openers. Where a plurality containment bins are used and a corresponding plurality of metering means are used, each metering means may typically be adjusted to deliver respective particulate material at a different rate than the other metering means. This is particularly of use where, for example, two types of particulate material are being injected into the soil, such as seed and fertilizer, each with different desired delivery rate.
Conventional metering devices for air seeder carts exist. Such metering devices are typically provided with rotatable rollers, rotatable augers, or rotatable dispensing wheels, which are operatively connected to a drive wheel in contact with the ground over which the wheeled cart travels or may be powered by electric or hydraulically powered motors.
FIG. 1 of Canadian patent CA 2,311,698 shows an air seeder cart 3, having a ground drive for rotating the metering devices 1,2 in proportion to a speed of travel of the air-seeder cart 3 along the ground. As best seen in FIG. 1 of CA 2,311,698, the ground drive comprises a wheel sprocket on cart wheel 5 which drives primary chain 6 which in turn rotates metering devices 1, 2 to permit metered delivery of the seed.
Historically, farm sizes have increased and likewise field sizes have increased As such, the necessary seeding/fertilizing equipment has become larger, in some cases over 82 feet (over 25 meters). However, use of larger equipment can prove to be difficult and awkward when attempting to uniformly seed and/or fertilize irregularly-shaped tracts of land. In this regard, when using large equipment, to ensure seeding/fertilizing of all areas, the land irregularities often cause a significant overlap in certain areas of a tract of land being seeded and/or fertilized, which is necessary if large (wide) equipment is used.
Where overseeding/fertilizing occurs, the cost expended on seed and/or fertilizer is in excess of what is necessary for proper seeding and fertilizing. Additionally, over-fertilization and/or over-seeding of an area causes the crop to lodge and not ripen at the appropriate time causing harvest problems and losses in yield. The accumulative effect of over-seeding and over-fertilizing by overlapping, or alternatively the equally detrimental result of otherwise missing seeding and fertilizing certain small sections over many fields, can become a very significant expense to a farmer.
Prior art implements typically employ a metering device for metering the particulate material such as seed, than can apply a specific quantity of (particulate material (eg. seed) per linear distance travelled by the implement. However, the prior art implements have not resolved the problem that double seeding/fertilizing can occur with large implements when the land seeded is too narrow or odd shaped for the seeding device. Further, the prior art has not resolved the problem that even though the meter has been turned off, ground-engaging openers are still engaging the ground and destroying the seed bed. This causes the seeded area which is overlapped to be destroyed by the ground-engaging openers resulting in uneven germination causing further problems with a poor crop and an uneven harvest in these areas.
Canadian Patent Application 2,622,428 and U.S. Ser. No. 12/037,732 filed Feb. 22 and 26, 2008 respectively (both of which are commonly assigned like this application to One-Pass Implements Inc. of Langbank, Saskatchewan-owner of the SEED HAWK™ trademark), each of which being incorporated herein in their entirety, provided a solution to the above problem of overseeding, namely by providing a sectional meter shut-off apparatus capable of restricting flow to selected ground-engaging members of an agricultural implement used in dispensing material such as seed and/or fertilizer to soil, and further providing ability to raise ground-engaging openers for which particulate material supply had been shut off so avoid not only overseeding, but also avoid destruction of any already-seeded seed bed.
Specifically, in one broad aspect of that invention, a metering device was provided having a plurality of gates that can be individually engaged to block off specific portions of a metering roller which receive particulate material, and thus only specific portions of the field will be seeded or fertilized. The plurality of gates are controlled by electric actuators, hydraulic actuators, electric-over-hydraulic actuators and/or by a camshaft. To control the individual gates on each metering device a switch is operatively connected to the cab of the vehicle towing the seeding device, and means receptive to such switch are provided to allow opening or closing of the various gates of the meter device. From the cab the driver can specifically select which gates should remain open and which gates should be closed. Alternatively, the gates may be individually automatically opened or closed by instructions from a GPS system which has determined which areas of the field which regulated by the various gates of the meter apparatus are overlapping with prior seeded/fertilized soil.
Such invention further disclosed an agricultural implement capable of dual material disbursement, further having means to raise ground-engaging openers thereon to prevent ground engagement, in combination with a metering device as described above that is able to prevent flow to the inactivated (ice. raised) ground-engaging members when other ground-engaging members are operating.
Again, the sectional meter shut-off device in the above agricultural implement comprised meter gates each moveable between an open and closed position relative to the metering roller of the metering device such that when each of said gates is in said closed position the particulate material is not able to access the metering roller. Specifically, the meter gates of such metering device operated so as to simply “cut off” flow of particulate material to the metering device.
It is possible, however, to design an agricultural implement where the metering device does not contain any metering gates, and instead the metering device whether it be a metering roller or dispensing wheel is always given access to particulate material and the flow “cut-off” to selected ground-engaging members is located downstream of the metering device.
Such a design is the subject matter of the within invention, as set out and described below.